Once a Month Cooking Video Resources

By simplesahm | May 21, 2008

This weekend my husband and I spent nearly $300 at Costco stocking up on items like cheese, milk, butter, eggs and cereal. Perhaps you noticed the cost of these items skyrocketing too?

When I didn't have two preschoolers underfoot I spent one weekend each month preparing a months' worth of meals. While the cooking day wasn't exactly fun (unless you *really* like cooking) I saved a tremendous amount of money and I loved having healthy "fast food" to serve each evening.

As a result of the recent jump in grocery prices, I am revisiting once a month cooking (or freezer cooking) as a way to save money on our families' grocery bill.

Since I am "polishing up" myself, I thought I would share some resources with you...

Bulk Baked Ziti

By simplesahm | January 26, 2008

Alright pasta lovers.  Here is another fantastic recipe that you can make in bulk and freeze for further use.  This is a trick I love to do with Lasagna.  I triple the recipe, assemble and freeze the portions I am not using.

This recipe is easier to make ahead and freeze. This recipe is for one family-sized portion so double it, triple it...quadruple as you wish.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2 cups (12 oz) ricotta cheese
• 16 oz pasta
• 3 cups spaghetti sauce
• 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
• 3 oz pepperoni, diced
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

Instructions:

1. Combine egg and ricotta cheese in a bowl.
2. Mix all ingredients together(except mozzarella).
3. Place in a greased 3 quart casserole dish.
4. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
5. Cover with foil.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy.

Half a Cow and Save Money

By simplesahm | January 18, 2008

With all of the talk lately about cloned beef *BLECH* I was reminded of an article I wrote for for the frugal living blog on Families.com last year.  I hope you find it both timely, and useful.

Half a Cow and Save Money: April 1, 2007

Stop having a cow about your grocery bills each month...and *half* a cow instead! (Sorry..I couldn't resist.)

One of my husband's coworkers approached him with an idea last year. "Why don't we contact a local rancher and buy a cow." "Our families can split it and we will both save money".

It was a great idea and the timing couldn't have been better. We'd just received our tax return and figured that filling our freezer would be a great way to spend the money.

All together, our half cost us a little over $300 and we had nearly a years' worth of ground beef, steaks and roasts. While it cost us quite a bit up front, I noticed a tremendous difference in our weekly shopping bills. Imagine being able to skip the meat aisle all-together. It saved me a considerable amount of time too.

This year, we decided to do it again and we contacted two more families and split a cow, and a pig into 1/4ths. This time we spent about $500 and have a freezer plump full of ham, bacon, sausage, ground beef, roasts, steaks and ribs.

Continue Reading Article at Families.com